U.S. politicians should meet not only with Russian opposition activists - Matviyenko
ST. PETERSBURG. June 29 (Interfax) - Representatives of the U.S. authorities should hold meetings not only with members of the Russian opposition, but also know the point of view of the official authorities, Speaker of the Russian Parliament's upper house Valentina Matviyenko told reporters on Friday after her meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
"I expressed my point of view on the need to boost inter-parliamentary cooperation and for closer contacts between Duma and Federation Council members with the Congress, the House of Representatives and the Senate. She (Clinton) backed it," Matviyenko said.
At the meeting with the secretary of state I invited U.S. partners to send a representative delegation to Russia for a profound dialogue, the speaker added.
"I said that U.S. senators should know various points of view, meet not only members of opposition parties but also (Duma) deputies and other politicians so as to break the stereotypes which are still strong in the U.S.," Matviyenko said.
Russia is on the path of political reforms: haste in many issues is unacceptable for nation-building, the speaker said.
"We are conducting a political reform, we too would like everything to happen faster, running behind or ahead is equally dangerous. The country is huge, multi-ethnic, and haste is very dangerous here from the point of view of national unity and stability," the Federation Council speaker said.
